Retail giants trade accusations on opening hours

THE SHACOLAS Group yesterday hit back at accusations by Orphanides Ltd regarding the opening hours of the Mall of Cyprus.

Christos Orphanides, the Chairman of Orphanides Ltd and owner of two malls in Nicosia and Paphos, sent a letter to the Labour Minister, which he also forwarded to the media, saying that the Shacolas Group had claimed in a press conference that the Mall of Cyprus may operate on a tourist schedule, seven days a week.
He added that Shacolas had claimed that the Labour Minister would view the application positively.

Pavlos Pavlou, the head of Shacolas’ PR team, yesterday issued an announcement saying the Group had not applied for such opening hours; it had merely expressed an opinion.

“It is with great sadness, bitterness and disappointment that we read the content of the letter by Mr Christos Orphanides to the Labour Minister, which we were informed about through the media, to which he sent the letter himself,” read Pavlou’s announcement.

“Of course, it is not difficult to understand the true reasons behind this action.
Unfortunately, there are some that do not desire the development of healthy and free competition, which is to the consumer’s benefit, and when their best interests are harmed, they express their displeasure with unsubstantiated, unfair and inappropriate accusations.”

Shacolas said he did not wish to embark on a public dispute and would therefore avoid commenting on Orphanides’ letter, “which contains so many contradictions, the author’s arguments are automatically cancelled out”.
He clarified: “No application was submitted to the relevant ministry regarding the operational hours of the Mall of Cyprus. Our Group just expressed its opinions on the matter.”

The Labour Ministry was yesterday unavailable for comment.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.